The price of gold is set overseas, specifically by the two London fixings each day and the international spot markets. In South Africa, our gold shares have to contend with a volatile gold price as well as all the problems of mining in this country – strike action, uncertain legislation, faulting, friability of rock, deep […]
Category: Investing
Target for JSE Overall
In early December 2016, we published an article with the heading “Upside Target” in which we explained the horizontal count method in point and figure (P&F) charting and then applied it to the S&P500 index – which had just broken upwards out of a two-year sideways market. In this article, we intend to apply the […]
The Disconnect
An interesting disconnect is going on in South Africa. On the one hand, you have economists who are almost universally negative, reducing their estimates of GPD growth and pointing to falling consumer confidence and lower production. On the other hand, you have rising share prices, which imply higher company profits in the future, and that […]
The Rand
The currency of a country is like the shares of a listed company. If the company is expected to do well and make profits, then its shares will go up – and vice versa. The same applies to a currency. If the country is perceived as being well-managed and doing well, then its currency will […]
The JSE’s Island Formation
With all the turbulence on the South African political scene it has been difficult to discern the direction of the JSE over the past year. The JSE Overall index has moved sideways while the markets of the world, and especially Wall Street have been making new highs. Consider the chart: The optimism of March, April […]
Market Overview
The South African investment environment is never boring. The past week has seen many developments which are having, or may have, an impact on the share market. Most of them are local, but some are overseas. To begin with the S&P500 index has been ramping up to new record highs, once again defying the many […]
LONG 4 LIFE (L4L)
As a private investor, you are really trying to catch onto the coat-tails of a proven entrepreneur and then go along for the ride. The secret is to find an appropriate entrepreneur with solid experience and then jump on board as early as possible. The newly listed company Long 4 Life was launched by Brian […]
Dischem’s Maiden Results
Dischem listed on the JSE on 18th November 2016, raising R750m via a private placing. The company is well-known to South Africans as an alternative to the already-listed Clicks. One of the primary purposes of the listing was to enable Dischem to expand its store base aggressively. Clicks has about 600 stores, and common sense […]
The Giant Awakens
As expected, Wall Street is making new highs on the back of a buoyant economy and record low unemployment. It is ignoring the bad news like weaker-than-expected housing and focusing on the bullish data like the 211 000 jobs created in April month. This is typical bull market behavior. In a bull market, investors focus […]
Combined Motor Holdings
Combined Motor Holdings (CMH) is one of those companies that is just out of favour with the big institutional fund managers. It is clearly a blue chip share with a long track record of rising earnings, and yet because it is in the motor trade, which has been doing badly in the past year, the […]